Hi. I'm back again. (grins) Sorry to keep you waiting. My computer went
screwy yesterday, so I couldn't type anything.
Disclaimer: See other chapters, I refuse to type it again. It's too sad. Lawyer: say it Me: Don't make me wake my dragon. Lawyer: (gulps and backs away) Me: On with the story!
Chapter 5: Amanda Bell
By the time they reached Tortuga and dropped anchor Kay had gone back to her usual self, the shock of time jumping having worn off. She kept her emotions locked away, and herself separated from the rest of the world.
They rowed to shore and Jack walked them through town. Kay wasn't listening to what he was saying, and didn't realize that he had asked her a question until Will nudged her in the ribs.
"What? Sorry?"
"I asked what ye think luv," Jack said gesturing around. Kay took note of her surroundings for the first time.
"Uh, it's interesting," she said without enthusiasm.
"If every town in the world were like Tortuga then no man would feel unwanted," Jack continued, not noticing either Kay's or Will's lack of enthusiasm. He was approached by a red-haired woman in a red dress. "Scarlet!" he said happily. She slapped him, then walked off. "I don't think I deserved that," Jack muttered. Another woman, a blonde this time, came up to them. "Giselle," Jack greeted her.
"Oo was she?" Giselle asked.
"What?" Jack's query was greeted by another slap. "I may have deserved that," he muttered. Kay smiled in spite of herself.
Jack led them to a shed, where they found a man sleeping with two pigs. Jack threw a bucket of water on him.
"Curse ya fer breathin ya slack-jawed idiot!" snapped the man as he jumped up. Then he spotted Jack. "Mother's love. Jack. Ye should know better than to wake a man when he's sleepin. S'bad luck."
"Ah. Fortunately I know how to counter it," said Jack. "The man who did the waking buys the man who was sleeping a drink, and the man who was sleeping drinks it while listening to a proposition from the man who did the waking."
"Ah, that'll about do it," said the man. As Jack pulled him to his feet, Kay saw Will grab up another bucket of water, then throw it at the man.
"Blast I'm already awake!" he yelled at Will.
"That was for the smell," Will responded. Kay thought he had a fair point. The shed didn't exactly smell like a bed of roses.
"So, who're they?" the man asked as they stepped out of the shed, gesturing to Will and Kay.
"That be Will, and this here is Kay," Jack said quickly. "Will, Kay, this is me friend Gibbs."
Kay nodded in greeting, opening her mouth to say something, but she never got a word out as a shriek split the night air, and a woman came running over to them. At first Kay thought this was someone else who had the intention of slapping Jack, but to her surprise the woman seized her by the arm in a vice-like grip.
"How dare you, young lady! How dare you!" the woman shrieked. Kay was too stunned to move. "We have looked everywhere for you Amanda! Do you know what you have cost this family? Do you?" the woman grabbed Kay by the shoulders and shook her hard. She was in a towering rage.
Kay found her voice. "My name isn't Amanda, it's Kay!" she yelled above the woman's ranting. She received a slap in answer.
"Don't you lie to me young lady!" She raised her hand to strike Kay again, but Jack seized her hand before she could do anything.
"This young lady is telling the truth. She be my cousin," he lied to the angry woman. Just then a well-dressed man walked over to them. He starred at Kay intently, his expression hard. "If ye could tell yer wife to release my cousin I'd most appreciate it," Jack said in a low but deadly voice.
The man ignored him and starred at Kay as though trying to see through her. Then he turned to the woman. "This is not Amanda, Lilly," he said.
"Of course she is Charles! Do you have no eyes?" snarled Lilly.
"She looks a great deal like Amanda, I agree, but this is not her." He finally looked over at Jack and Will, both armed, both with hands on their weapons. "Let her go. We'll look elsewhere." The seething Lilly finally released Kay, and stormed off with her husband, leaving a shaking, very confused Kay behind them.
"Are you alright?" Jack asked Kay.
She nodded. "Who were they?" Jack shook his head, he had no idea.
"Well-to-do family, live on an island half a day from here," Gibbs answered. They all turned to look at him.
"What do they have to do with me?" Kay asked.
"Well ye see," began Gibbs. "'Bout a year ago they made plans to marry their daughter off to some rich noble. They wanted more wealth and power and figured they could get it by marrying the girl off to someone of a higher class than they were. Only, the girl was having none of it and ran here. Strange thing is, shortly after she got here, she disappeared. Same day as her parents got here looking for her. Some captain claims she was talking to him, asking for passage, he turns around to call for a drink, turns back to the girl and she's gone. Just like that. Just disappears from an empty bar. No one's seen her since." He finished.
Jack noticed that Kay was white as a sheet. She took a shaky breath, then asked in a voice that sounded on the edge of cracking, "What was the girl's full name?"
"Her name was Amanda Bell. Why?" asked Gibbs.
If it was possible, Kay had just gone paler and answered in a whisper. "Amanda Bell was my mother's maiden name." Will gave her a startled look.
Kay stared down the street after the retreating pair, now lost to sight. Then she caught sight of someone across the street who was staring intently at her from underneath the hood of a cloak. Everyone else of the street had gone about their business except this woman. But before Kay could move Jack seized her by the shoulder and steered her into a bar.
He left her standing with Will and walked over to the bartender to order drinks while Gibbs grabbed a table. Jack walked back over with three mugs in his hands. He handed one to Kay.
"Drink this," he told her. "It'll help your nerves." Kay obediently took a sip. It burned like fire as she swallowed, but as promised it calmed her down a little. She took another sip. Jack turned to Will. "Keep a sharp eye," he told him. Then he walked to join Gibbs at a table not too far away.
Kay was thinking about the confrontation with the Bells. Was their daughter Amanda possibly her mother? She had come back in time, was it so impossible that her mother had gone forward in time? It was too much for Kay to take in right then so she took another sip of what she now knew to be rum, and tried to listen in on Jack and Gibbs's conversation. She heard Jack mutter something about leverage. Then Gibbs asked "The kid?" Kay figured that Will was the said leverage.
"That is the child of Bootstrap Bill Turner. His only child," Jack responded, so low she barely heard him.
She glanced to the side at Will, who was trying to discourage some whore who was flirting with him. They both started at a loud noise like a cannon that came from outside. Will suddenly drew his sword and kicked over a table. Everything in the bar stopped and everyone turned to stare at him.
"Kid's a bit of a stick, in'e?" she heard Gibbs ask quietly.
"You have no idea," Jack muttered. As suddenly as everything had stopped, it started back up again. Will, looking incredibly embarrassed, sheathed his sword and muttered something that sounded like an apology.
Gibbs left then, saying he would see them tomorrow. Jack went to talk to the owner, and came back a few minutes later.
"I got us rooms for the night," he said. Kay finished her rum and put the mug down on a table nearby. She and Will followed Jack to a hallway behind the bar. "These are ours," Jack said. He pointed Will to the first one, and Kay to the second one. He took the one on the other side of Kay's.
Kay said goodnight and went in. The room was nothing great, if anything it was rather dirty. But it had a bed and that's all that Kay was looking for. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
~*~
Kay woke up the next morning with her stomach in knots. She thought back and realized that the last thing she had to eat was lunch, two days ago. No wonder her stomach was knotted up. Yawning, Kay wandered out to the bar. As she passed Will's room, he opened the door.
"You're awake already?" he asked, incredulous.
"I had to get up early for my job so I'm used to waking up early," she responded. "I'm hungry. I was gonna get some breakfast."
"I'm hungry too, now that you mention it," Will said. They went out to the bar together to order some food. They were eating when Jack joined them and ordered some food for himself. When they were finished Jack went to pay the owner. Kay decided to wait outside. She had no sooner stepped out the door than she was approached by a small boy.
"Excuse me miss. Are you Kay Joans?" he asked Kay.
"Yes, I am," said Kay, startled that the boy knew her name.
The boy held out a small package. "I was told to give this to Kay Joans," he said. Kay took the package slowly.
"Who told you to give it to me?" she asked.
The boy shrugged. "A lady."
"Did she tell you her name?"
"No maam."
"What did she look like?"
The boy thought for a minute. "She had a cloak and hood on," he said. "But she had green eyes," he said helpfully. Kay thanked him and he left.
She looked down at the package in her hands. It was wrapped in some kind of oilcloth. Kay was about to open it when someone hailed her from the street. She looked up. It was Gibbs.
"Hey," she greeted. Jack and Will came out of the bar.
"Mornin Gibbs," called Jack. They all walked for the docks. Jack looked down at the package that Kay carried. "What's that?" he asked.
Kay shrugged. "A boy gave it to me when I left the bar. He said a lady had told him to give it to me."
"Maybe it's from that woman you met last night," suggested Jack.
Kay shook her head. "No, that woman had blue eyes. I asked the boy and he said the lady who gave this to him had green." They reached the docks then, and further conversation was halted. Kay slipped the package into her pocket, which closed with a small buckle.
There were about twenty to twenty-five men standing there, waiting to be inspected.
"Here ye are captain," said Gibbs. "Every man here worth his salt. And crazy to boot."
"This is your able bodied crew?" asked Will scathingly.
Jack walked over to one man who had a parrot on his shoulder. "You sir. What's your name?"
"Cotton sir," supplied Gibbs.
"Mr. Cotton," said Jack. "Do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death? Mr. Cotton! Answer me."
"He's a mute sir," said Gibbs. "Bloody man had his tongue cut out." Cotton opened his mouth and Jack cringed. "So he trained the parrot to talk for him. No one's yet figured how."
Jack tried again. "Mr. Cotton's parrot. Same question."
The parrot squawked. "Wind in yer sails, wind in yer sails."
"Mostly we figure that means yes," Gibbs said helpfully.
"Of course it does," said Jack brightly. "Satisfied?" he asked Will.
"Well you've proved they're mad," said Will.
"And what's the benefit for us?" called someone. Jack, Will, and Kay walked down the docks to stand in front of a person wearing a tri-cornered hat. Jack pulled the hat off, revealing the face of a dark-skinned woman.
"Anna-Maria," greeted Jack. She slapped him, hard.
"I suppose you didn't deserve that one either?" asked Will.
"No that one I deserved," Jack said. He turned back to Anna-Maria.
"You stole my boat," she snarled.
"Actually-" started Jack. He was interrupted when she slapped him again. "Borrowed," he said. "Borrowed without permission. But with every intention of bringing it back to you."
"But you didn't," she shrieked. She raised her hand again.
"You'll get another one," pleaded Jack, not wanting to get struck again.
"A better one," said Will, jumping in.
"A better one," echoed Jack.
"That one," said Will and Kay simultaneously, both pointing to the Interceptor.
"What one?" asked Jack, spinning to face them. "That one?!" he said in disbelief, looking at them both like they were crazy. Then he saw Anna- Maria's angry expression and the expectant faces of everyone else. "Aye," he agreed reluctantly. "That one. What say you?"
There was a chorus of "Ayes," and everyone rushed to a boat.
"No, no sir. It's bad luck to bring one woman on board, let alone two," said Gibbs stepping up to Jack. Kay bristled.
"It'd be far worse not to however," Jack replied. He grabbed Kay's arm and pulled her to a rowboat. Will and Gibbs followed them in and they rowed back to the Interceptor.
Okay hope you enjoyed this chapter. School starts tomorrow (cries) so I'll try to update once a week. But this is the time of year that the teachers seem to feel that they need to stuff work down their student's throats, so I can't promise anything. (sigh) Um, I'm still open for suggestion on what to do to the lawyer. I have had no suggestions yet...
Disclaimer: See other chapters, I refuse to type it again. It's too sad. Lawyer: say it Me: Don't make me wake my dragon. Lawyer: (gulps and backs away) Me: On with the story!
Chapter 5: Amanda Bell
By the time they reached Tortuga and dropped anchor Kay had gone back to her usual self, the shock of time jumping having worn off. She kept her emotions locked away, and herself separated from the rest of the world.
They rowed to shore and Jack walked them through town. Kay wasn't listening to what he was saying, and didn't realize that he had asked her a question until Will nudged her in the ribs.
"What? Sorry?"
"I asked what ye think luv," Jack said gesturing around. Kay took note of her surroundings for the first time.
"Uh, it's interesting," she said without enthusiasm.
"If every town in the world were like Tortuga then no man would feel unwanted," Jack continued, not noticing either Kay's or Will's lack of enthusiasm. He was approached by a red-haired woman in a red dress. "Scarlet!" he said happily. She slapped him, then walked off. "I don't think I deserved that," Jack muttered. Another woman, a blonde this time, came up to them. "Giselle," Jack greeted her.
"Oo was she?" Giselle asked.
"What?" Jack's query was greeted by another slap. "I may have deserved that," he muttered. Kay smiled in spite of herself.
Jack led them to a shed, where they found a man sleeping with two pigs. Jack threw a bucket of water on him.
"Curse ya fer breathin ya slack-jawed idiot!" snapped the man as he jumped up. Then he spotted Jack. "Mother's love. Jack. Ye should know better than to wake a man when he's sleepin. S'bad luck."
"Ah. Fortunately I know how to counter it," said Jack. "The man who did the waking buys the man who was sleeping a drink, and the man who was sleeping drinks it while listening to a proposition from the man who did the waking."
"Ah, that'll about do it," said the man. As Jack pulled him to his feet, Kay saw Will grab up another bucket of water, then throw it at the man.
"Blast I'm already awake!" he yelled at Will.
"That was for the smell," Will responded. Kay thought he had a fair point. The shed didn't exactly smell like a bed of roses.
"So, who're they?" the man asked as they stepped out of the shed, gesturing to Will and Kay.
"That be Will, and this here is Kay," Jack said quickly. "Will, Kay, this is me friend Gibbs."
Kay nodded in greeting, opening her mouth to say something, but she never got a word out as a shriek split the night air, and a woman came running over to them. At first Kay thought this was someone else who had the intention of slapping Jack, but to her surprise the woman seized her by the arm in a vice-like grip.
"How dare you, young lady! How dare you!" the woman shrieked. Kay was too stunned to move. "We have looked everywhere for you Amanda! Do you know what you have cost this family? Do you?" the woman grabbed Kay by the shoulders and shook her hard. She was in a towering rage.
Kay found her voice. "My name isn't Amanda, it's Kay!" she yelled above the woman's ranting. She received a slap in answer.
"Don't you lie to me young lady!" She raised her hand to strike Kay again, but Jack seized her hand before she could do anything.
"This young lady is telling the truth. She be my cousin," he lied to the angry woman. Just then a well-dressed man walked over to them. He starred at Kay intently, his expression hard. "If ye could tell yer wife to release my cousin I'd most appreciate it," Jack said in a low but deadly voice.
The man ignored him and starred at Kay as though trying to see through her. Then he turned to the woman. "This is not Amanda, Lilly," he said.
"Of course she is Charles! Do you have no eyes?" snarled Lilly.
"She looks a great deal like Amanda, I agree, but this is not her." He finally looked over at Jack and Will, both armed, both with hands on their weapons. "Let her go. We'll look elsewhere." The seething Lilly finally released Kay, and stormed off with her husband, leaving a shaking, very confused Kay behind them.
"Are you alright?" Jack asked Kay.
She nodded. "Who were they?" Jack shook his head, he had no idea.
"Well-to-do family, live on an island half a day from here," Gibbs answered. They all turned to look at him.
"What do they have to do with me?" Kay asked.
"Well ye see," began Gibbs. "'Bout a year ago they made plans to marry their daughter off to some rich noble. They wanted more wealth and power and figured they could get it by marrying the girl off to someone of a higher class than they were. Only, the girl was having none of it and ran here. Strange thing is, shortly after she got here, she disappeared. Same day as her parents got here looking for her. Some captain claims she was talking to him, asking for passage, he turns around to call for a drink, turns back to the girl and she's gone. Just like that. Just disappears from an empty bar. No one's seen her since." He finished.
Jack noticed that Kay was white as a sheet. She took a shaky breath, then asked in a voice that sounded on the edge of cracking, "What was the girl's full name?"
"Her name was Amanda Bell. Why?" asked Gibbs.
If it was possible, Kay had just gone paler and answered in a whisper. "Amanda Bell was my mother's maiden name." Will gave her a startled look.
Kay stared down the street after the retreating pair, now lost to sight. Then she caught sight of someone across the street who was staring intently at her from underneath the hood of a cloak. Everyone else of the street had gone about their business except this woman. But before Kay could move Jack seized her by the shoulder and steered her into a bar.
He left her standing with Will and walked over to the bartender to order drinks while Gibbs grabbed a table. Jack walked back over with three mugs in his hands. He handed one to Kay.
"Drink this," he told her. "It'll help your nerves." Kay obediently took a sip. It burned like fire as she swallowed, but as promised it calmed her down a little. She took another sip. Jack turned to Will. "Keep a sharp eye," he told him. Then he walked to join Gibbs at a table not too far away.
Kay was thinking about the confrontation with the Bells. Was their daughter Amanda possibly her mother? She had come back in time, was it so impossible that her mother had gone forward in time? It was too much for Kay to take in right then so she took another sip of what she now knew to be rum, and tried to listen in on Jack and Gibbs's conversation. She heard Jack mutter something about leverage. Then Gibbs asked "The kid?" Kay figured that Will was the said leverage.
"That is the child of Bootstrap Bill Turner. His only child," Jack responded, so low she barely heard him.
She glanced to the side at Will, who was trying to discourage some whore who was flirting with him. They both started at a loud noise like a cannon that came from outside. Will suddenly drew his sword and kicked over a table. Everything in the bar stopped and everyone turned to stare at him.
"Kid's a bit of a stick, in'e?" she heard Gibbs ask quietly.
"You have no idea," Jack muttered. As suddenly as everything had stopped, it started back up again. Will, looking incredibly embarrassed, sheathed his sword and muttered something that sounded like an apology.
Gibbs left then, saying he would see them tomorrow. Jack went to talk to the owner, and came back a few minutes later.
"I got us rooms for the night," he said. Kay finished her rum and put the mug down on a table nearby. She and Will followed Jack to a hallway behind the bar. "These are ours," Jack said. He pointed Will to the first one, and Kay to the second one. He took the one on the other side of Kay's.
Kay said goodnight and went in. The room was nothing great, if anything it was rather dirty. But it had a bed and that's all that Kay was looking for. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
~*~
Kay woke up the next morning with her stomach in knots. She thought back and realized that the last thing she had to eat was lunch, two days ago. No wonder her stomach was knotted up. Yawning, Kay wandered out to the bar. As she passed Will's room, he opened the door.
"You're awake already?" he asked, incredulous.
"I had to get up early for my job so I'm used to waking up early," she responded. "I'm hungry. I was gonna get some breakfast."
"I'm hungry too, now that you mention it," Will said. They went out to the bar together to order some food. They were eating when Jack joined them and ordered some food for himself. When they were finished Jack went to pay the owner. Kay decided to wait outside. She had no sooner stepped out the door than she was approached by a small boy.
"Excuse me miss. Are you Kay Joans?" he asked Kay.
"Yes, I am," said Kay, startled that the boy knew her name.
The boy held out a small package. "I was told to give this to Kay Joans," he said. Kay took the package slowly.
"Who told you to give it to me?" she asked.
The boy shrugged. "A lady."
"Did she tell you her name?"
"No maam."
"What did she look like?"
The boy thought for a minute. "She had a cloak and hood on," he said. "But she had green eyes," he said helpfully. Kay thanked him and he left.
She looked down at the package in her hands. It was wrapped in some kind of oilcloth. Kay was about to open it when someone hailed her from the street. She looked up. It was Gibbs.
"Hey," she greeted. Jack and Will came out of the bar.
"Mornin Gibbs," called Jack. They all walked for the docks. Jack looked down at the package that Kay carried. "What's that?" he asked.
Kay shrugged. "A boy gave it to me when I left the bar. He said a lady had told him to give it to me."
"Maybe it's from that woman you met last night," suggested Jack.
Kay shook her head. "No, that woman had blue eyes. I asked the boy and he said the lady who gave this to him had green." They reached the docks then, and further conversation was halted. Kay slipped the package into her pocket, which closed with a small buckle.
There were about twenty to twenty-five men standing there, waiting to be inspected.
"Here ye are captain," said Gibbs. "Every man here worth his salt. And crazy to boot."
"This is your able bodied crew?" asked Will scathingly.
Jack walked over to one man who had a parrot on his shoulder. "You sir. What's your name?"
"Cotton sir," supplied Gibbs.
"Mr. Cotton," said Jack. "Do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death? Mr. Cotton! Answer me."
"He's a mute sir," said Gibbs. "Bloody man had his tongue cut out." Cotton opened his mouth and Jack cringed. "So he trained the parrot to talk for him. No one's yet figured how."
Jack tried again. "Mr. Cotton's parrot. Same question."
The parrot squawked. "Wind in yer sails, wind in yer sails."
"Mostly we figure that means yes," Gibbs said helpfully.
"Of course it does," said Jack brightly. "Satisfied?" he asked Will.
"Well you've proved they're mad," said Will.
"And what's the benefit for us?" called someone. Jack, Will, and Kay walked down the docks to stand in front of a person wearing a tri-cornered hat. Jack pulled the hat off, revealing the face of a dark-skinned woman.
"Anna-Maria," greeted Jack. She slapped him, hard.
"I suppose you didn't deserve that one either?" asked Will.
"No that one I deserved," Jack said. He turned back to Anna-Maria.
"You stole my boat," she snarled.
"Actually-" started Jack. He was interrupted when she slapped him again. "Borrowed," he said. "Borrowed without permission. But with every intention of bringing it back to you."
"But you didn't," she shrieked. She raised her hand again.
"You'll get another one," pleaded Jack, not wanting to get struck again.
"A better one," said Will, jumping in.
"A better one," echoed Jack.
"That one," said Will and Kay simultaneously, both pointing to the Interceptor.
"What one?" asked Jack, spinning to face them. "That one?!" he said in disbelief, looking at them both like they were crazy. Then he saw Anna- Maria's angry expression and the expectant faces of everyone else. "Aye," he agreed reluctantly. "That one. What say you?"
There was a chorus of "Ayes," and everyone rushed to a boat.
"No, no sir. It's bad luck to bring one woman on board, let alone two," said Gibbs stepping up to Jack. Kay bristled.
"It'd be far worse not to however," Jack replied. He grabbed Kay's arm and pulled her to a rowboat. Will and Gibbs followed them in and they rowed back to the Interceptor.
Okay hope you enjoyed this chapter. School starts tomorrow (cries) so I'll try to update once a week. But this is the time of year that the teachers seem to feel that they need to stuff work down their student's throats, so I can't promise anything. (sigh) Um, I'm still open for suggestion on what to do to the lawyer. I have had no suggestions yet...